Plush Playtime
by Mable
Summary: One is recruited by Eight and Five to watch their infant twins, a task that he reluctantly agrees to, that changes into a much different experience once he is joined by Two. 1x2 and 5x8. Oneshot. Sequel to 'Making up for Lost Time'.


**Mable: This took way too long. This is a request for Allyson; I'm so sorry about the delay. Usually I have requests posted in a few days, but with 'Sanest in the Asylum' and everything I fell back way too far. I still hope it is what you would like. I don't own 9, Enjoy!**

* * *

_**Plush Playtime**_

One knew that look; Eight wanted something. He never frequently got this look with the Guard, usually just with Two or one of the others, so he knew it would most likely be something important. Eight was apparently waiting for the right moment as he continued to glance over at the Leader so One finally spoke, "What is it?" The Guard was confused, "What's what?" The Leader grew impatient, "You know 'what's what'. What is it that you need? You clearly want to ask something of me, I am not that oblivious."

Eight didn't even try to deny it, but looked surprisingly hesitant for being Eight. The Guard was never hesitant about anything and feared no one, except One, and then started, "Me and Five haven't got a lot of time together since the twins were born." He pointed out. One wanted to correct his grammar, but the need to remind Eight of something else was more pressing, "I told you countless times beforehand that raising children was a serious matter that would take all of your free time away. You both still insisted that you wanted to be parents."

"It's not that I don't love them." Eight pointed out quickly, "And I'm not regretting what we did, but we need a night, just a night, just to relax. The twins are getting big enough that they don't need us for the night." The Leader immediately disagreed, "You cannot leave two babes alone and unattended. Infants can be fine and in an instant have a need; whether they are too warm, too cold, are uncomfortable, are not socialized enough. You cannot possibly leave one, or two for that matter, alone while you and Five leave for the night."

One knew he backed himself into a corner even before Eight looked to him and spoke, "Yeah, Boss. That's what I wanted to ask you." The Leader's face suddenly melted into a look of mortification. His mind began a repetitive chanting begging that the other wasn't about to ask him of a favor. Then the words came through, "Think you could watch the boys for the night? I don't trust any of the others. They don't know what it's like having kids." He was trying to stroke One's ego and yet it wasn't working, not it the slightest, One was much too intelligent to agree to this.

"Five wants to leave them with the twins, but I'm not real sure about it." Unfortunately One's maternal instincts overtook his protests. "You cannot leave them with the twins. They are mere children themselves, they would not be able to take care of two infants." The Guard tried again, "What about Seven?" Eight couldn't have been smart enough to actually be playing with One's emotions; or so the Leader believed. That pried the Stitchpunk's optics to narrow further as he spoke, "Seven would not be patient enough to watch a child. She cannot stay still for even a second."

"There's no one else." Eight pointed out, "Nine's off getting paper with Six, Two's working on that rigged up thing that he uses for the lights," Eight knew it was a generator as well but felt the need to just call it this title, "So it's either Seven or the twins if you won't." Then One abruptly caved in and spoke, "Very well. Consider this my gift of congratulations on your parenthood." He was at least able to disguise himself as being generous at least. However, he was immediately disturbed that he had agreed to such a chore.

Watching two, young infants; he couldn't believe that he agreed to such a chore. However, it seemed like only two seconds later that Eight and Five were rushing out, most likely trying to escape before One changed his mind. Five was quick to explain everything, "They're still taking their nap, but they should be awake in a little while." That's as much as he got out before he and Eight nearly sprinted away and One was trying to figure out why they were so eager to leave. One watched the lift recede and waited for a short bit before deciding to go check the twins.

After all, that was what he agreed to do anyway. He entered the bedroom and approached the crib. Their condition was something he thoroughly scoffed at. "Look at this. They could very well freeze." He murmured to himself as he realized that the blankets, which should have been tightly folded over them, was down at their knees. The Leader quickly pulled the blanket over their small bodies before turning to leave. Unfortunately, he had already started something that he didn't mean to, and realized it the second he got to the door.

A small chirping noise of a coo suddenly echoed out from behind One and he winced. He had woke one of the infants. Looking back he could see it was the closer one who had awoken and was now struggling to pull itself upwards, staring through the bars of the crib at the Leader. This one had a mark around its left optic like a patch and its small hands grabbed towards One eagerly. One approached cautiously and hesitantly reached into the crib. He didn't want to rile the baby too much, less he wake it to the point that it would refuse to go back to sleep.

The second he began to stroke over its button it released a shrill noise of playfulness as its mouth broke into a smile. One winced at the noise and had a clear reason to, right afterwards the other baby began to whimper before beginning to release noises of distress. Fifty-Eight, the one with the patch, had managed to awaken his twin as well. Of course One couldn't leave a crying baby alone and begrudgingly lifted it out of its bed. This one had small darks over its mouth and was labeled Eighty-Five.

One hushed the child, holding it in a surprisingly tender manner, "Now, now. Stop that. It's alright." He rocked the little one in its grasp for only a few seconds before a new problem emerged. Suddenly Fifty-Eight realized that the other was getting attention and that he was not, and then suddenly began to whimper as well. One glanced down at the babe in his arms, then to the one in the crib, and eventually huffed. This was why he didn't want to watch twins as he was already stuck in a situation where he needed to hold them both at once.

He locked his left arm around the other twin and lifted it, managing to adjust it until he was holding both in his grasp. The twins managed to finally stop crying, but One wasn't ignorant. He eyed them suspiciously as the two stared upwards at him with seemingly innocent looks, though nothing related to Eight could be considered innocent. They weren't going to go back to sleep with their small optics so wide with pleasure. The Leader groaned to himself, _"I knew it. This is an elaborate way to torture me." _He insisted as he struggled to carry the smaller dolls.

Fifty-Eight was beginning to squirm while Eighty-Five decided to latch onto One's arm and begin to suckle. One kept a firm grimace on his face as he started out of the door. Unfortunately, his slanted optics just had to dip to the side and catch sight of the small dressing table. If he would have missed the folded clothing he could have ignored the inevitable clothing of the babies. Seeing the clothes reminded him that they were too young to be unclothed, that they would get cold and simply begin crying again, and so he decided to be quick and dress them.

He laid both down on the table, _"At least he got this right." _He mentally noted as he saw the small rails around the table. Small enough that they wouldn't get in his way but high enough to detour the Stitchling pups from rolling off the table; One reluctantly admitted that Five was an attentive parent. Of course that meant admitting that he had not even imagined putting bars on a changing table. "Let us see…" He spoke to the infants as he glanced between both. Eighty-Five was now sucking on his brother's fist while Fifty-Eight kicked his legs around.

One made his decision, "Eighty-Five, let us begin with you while your brother tires himself." He reached for one of the folded suits, Five had set out two that looked nearly identical of pale blue with only different accents, one with orange and the other with green. They were clean and nicely stitched to cover the feet while leaving the head and hands free. He undid the small ties on the back of the suit to open it and began to slide it over the pup's feet and legs. However, the little one who was so quiet and passive suddenly decided that he pointedly did not want to put the suit on.

Its face contorted in distress and it began to pull its legs in while making fussy noises. "Now don't be like that." One instructed gently before somewhat wrestling with the pup. It absolutely refused to cooperate and by time One managed to fit the suit on its lower half it was starting to cry again, even though One knew that it was clearly not hurt in the process, and this lead to the other one becoming irritated as well. It didn't exactly feel natural to do much else to a pup that was not his own, but he did decided to attempt a light effort at calming it.

He ruffled his fingers over its small belly, light ghosts of touches that tempted it to laugh instead of cry. Eventually it began to work and the small whines changed into light giggling. It's marked mouth widening into a smile with tiny giggles ringing forth. It was so much trouble, this entire event was so much trouble, and yet he couldn't help but feel a smile tugging at his lips. They were just babies so he allowed this showing of pleasure. It wasn't as though it was Seven or one of the others who would actually be willing to hang this over his head.

That was the good thing about pups; they judged nothing and didn't ask questions. He finished clothing the infant before moving on to Fifty-Eight, who was still disturbed from his brother's bought of crying. Surprisingly, he was passive when it came to dressing, and barely reacted to it. They were finally clothed and the Leader scooped them into his arms once again. He then carried them out into the hall before heading down towards the small room that had been made into a nursery for Stitchling pups.

With the introduction of children, Two had decided that making a room dedicated strictly to being a place where the little ones could play while being watched was necessary, and sure enough soon afterwards Five realized that he was with young. Twins as well. While they were not old enough to be fully active yet they could still play some and found the selection of handmade toys certainly interesting to touch and put in their mouth. The nursery wasn't too big, but was filled with various playthings. One set them down on the rug-like piece of cloth in the middle of the floor.

They were able to stay sitting upwards on their own, but that didn't mean that they could do much more. So far they seemed completely clueless on what to do. The only answer was that eventually Eighty-Five grabbed ahold of Fifty-Eight's hand and forcibly put it in his own mouth, the latter seeming to not mind and merely watching the action. One immediately intervened, "Now you don't know what he's been touching." He reminded as he gently freed the hand from his grip, "The last thing you want is to get dirt in your mouth."

He then reached for the closest object in sight and dragged it over. Thankfully it was a box filled with random plush toys that seemed much more appropriate for the little ones. "Here. Play with these." One simply stated as he pulled a few of the toys free and dropped them between the two. The little ones merely stared at the toys without reacting, as though they suddenly forgot how to play on their own, and One exhaled impatiently, "You cannot be this difficult with your parents. You must be rebelling solely against me." He stated, to which the others just stared at him.

Then Fifty-Eight started to smile and One believed that was his answer even though the little one was merely becoming interested in the toys. He moved onto his hands and knees and crawled forward past the toys and approaching One. "What are you doing?" One asked in paranoia, but couldn't escape fast enough. Fifty-Eight climbed atop one of his folded legs and refused to leave the position. One managed to adjust himself until his legs were crossed and merely sat there, uncomfortable and undignified, and in response the infant just continued to move into his lap and refuse to budge.

While it curled against his buckles, One addressed the other pup who was doing nothing. "Take this." One suggested as he tried to put on of the plush toys into its hands. It looked almost like a furry Cat Beast, One didn't know what would be appealing about a Cat Beast, and the infant's face alit. Then the Leader set the toy down and the smile dropped. Suddenly the infant lost interest once again. "I know you are old enough to entertain yourself. Take it." One insisted and again the young one did nothing.

Finally, the Leader broke down again, "I know you are doing this on purpose." He murmured to himself before lifting the toy with his free hand, the other lowering to press on the pup's back who was cuddled to his front. He linked his fingers around the toy and maneuvered the front paws, or stubs, to move. "Eighty-Five, such a good… pup." One recited in an attempt to appease the little one. It was so awkward, so unnatural to baby a Stitchling that was not his own. He felt embarrassed at the action and yet continued.

"Let's play a game." One said through the plush, "with our hands, like this." He forced the doll to press its hands together before patting the other's hands in a rhythmic pattern, back and forth. The baby began to attempt to pat back and was clearly entertained. "Very good, you're very smart." One praised at the small one, _"Perhaps he doesn't take everything from his father."_

"Having fun?" Immediately One winced at the comment and slowly looked back towards the doorway. There stood none other than Two who looked quite comfortable leaning against the frame. He had been there for a while watching and the Leader directed his optics elsewhere. "I thought you were working down in the Library." The Inventor chuckled a bit before entering the room to stand beside the Leader, "I was. Five told me on his way out that you would be watching the twins and I had to come see."

Two stiffly kneeled to sit beside One, a hand on the Leader's shoulder to help him do so. Ever since his leg replacement he had a little trouble getting into a crouched position without a little bit of a struggle. He did get down beside One though and immediately reached in to scoop up Eighty-Five in his grasp before resting him in his lap, "And you managed to get some clothes on them! I'm impressed!" The Leader huffed a bit, "You act as though it should be a difficult." Two explained, "Five told me how difficult they were to clothe." One looked to him abruptly, "Five told you that they were difficult?"

The Inventor caught the tone of accusation and waved it off, "One, all babies are difficult, I'm just saying that I'm impressed." The Leader gave him an unconvinced look and handed over the plush toy that the Inventor refused to take, "You were doing a good job before I got involved. Don't let me spoil your fun." He wanted to see his mate relax and play with the babies while One was very hesitant to let himself do so. The second the pup began to whine One caved and put the cat plush closer.

"Now, no need to start crying." The 'Plush' said and the baby stared at it unentertained. "Let's see if we can't get another smile." One disguised his voice slightly, a faux peppy tone that worked better with the colorful plush, but he doubted Eighty-Five would be able to tell the difference. Two grabbed a toy as well, this one called a 'bear' and began to playfully banter with the cat plush. "Mr. Cat," Two voiced, "Maybe we should play a game." One blinked a bit before joining in, "Yes, Mr. Bear, we should, what game?"

The Inventor remarked, "Hide and seek. I'll hide and you can find me." He insisted and the Leader gave him a curious look to which the short male gave a small wink. 'Cat' covered his little button eyes while 'Bear' hopped around before moving behind Two's back. One counted to ten as the 'Cat' before he let the plush circle around to look for the other plush, failing to do so. By now there was movement in One's lap and he realized that Fifty-Eight was now watching the scene with his brother in curiosity. "I can't find him!"

'Cat'quoted dramatically before looking to Eighty-Five, "Where is Mr. Bear? Why, I can't find him! Do you know?" He asked Eighty-Five who seemed to understand the request and smiled a bit as he climbed over Two's lap and after the plush in particular. Two revealed the bear, "You found me!" He exclaimed and Eighty-Five released a squeal of delight. Two brought the plush forward to tickle the small Stitchpunk. One turned his own attention to the other twin and mimicked his mate's actions.

With the both of them, they were able to amuse the babes for a bit longer. The little ones soon took control of the plush toys and entertained themselves, giving the two adults a few minutes to themselves. "We should bathe them." One quoted out of the blue and Two raised a brow, "Bathe them? But we just dressed them." The Leader corrected, "_I _dressed them. Besides that, we had them on the floor. It is the least we can do." The younger wasn't convinced, but merely shook his head with a smile, "Ah, One, playing with young pups again… It gives me the strangest thoughts."

There was a small minute of silence where neither spoke. Two merely rubbed one of the young one's on the back as he ignore the gaze at the back of his head. Then One asked, "What strange thoughts?" The Inventor slowly looked to his mate with a remarkably innocent look, a small smile stretched across his lips that immediately tugged at the Leader's soul. "The thought that perhaps we should consider having a baby." One stared at him blankly before speaking, "Two?" Two smiled wider, "Yes One?"

"We _have _a baby." He insisted and Two chuckled, "No, I know that, I just… Twenty-One won't be young forever. He's already talking and walking… Soon he'll be an adult, living his own life." The older scoffed at the comment, "Yes, I will inform him of this when we wake him from his nap." However, he was hiding something, hiding his own concern about the situation. Two did have a point; Twenty-One wasn't exactly a baby anymore and wouldn't stay one forever.

"There are already other infants in the Sanctuary, we already have our hands full." He protested desperately to which Two contradicted, "She would have others to socialize with at a young age and my time they were children she would be close enough to them that they could play and learn without a gap of time between them." One suddenly caught the words the other had spoken that perhaps even Two hadn't. "She?" The Inventor seemed taken aback by his slip, "Well I- I was just considering what having a daughter would be like. Perhaps Twenty-One and her would get along better and compete yes."

"You are certainly right about that. Brothers constantly compete for their Father's affection. Though I doubt gender would change that much we cannot assume that she will be like Seven." The comment clearly reminded Two of when they were young, or younger, and still lived with the Scientist. It was clear that there was some competition, though Two still denied his part in it and was convinced that the other had merely been bitter about all of the attention the Scientist had been giving his, at the time, youngest.

Two also caught the way that One was speaking of the baby like it was a possibility and tried to not reveal the growing smile. "Well if, per say, we were planning to have another child then when would we try to have it by? It is almost spring, would there be a season we should try for?" The answer came accordingly, "I would suppose summer." Two responded immediately, leaning over and resting his head upon One's shoulder in a loving fashion as he watched the two Stitchpunk babies begin to yawn and slow their actions slightly.

One wasn't paying attention and instead turned to his mate, resting his head against his briefly before turning enough to capture his lips. It wasn't a desperate motion, certainly not a rushed one, but felt different than the usual kiss that had begun to arise whenever they got a chance to do so. But as romantic as it could be, they still had priorities to attend to before they could give into temptation and the act of creation. They merely watched the younger ones and continued to entertain them for a while until it came clearly apparent that they were too tired to go on and needed to be put to bed yet again.

The main revelation was when Fifty-Eight repeated his previous actions and climbed back into One's lap again and tried to go to sleep on him. "I'll take them to bed," Two suggested, "just as long as you will wake Twenty-One. I think we let him sleep to long so it may be difficult trying to get him in bed tonight." Unlike the babes, Twenty-One was now old enough that he only took a single nap during the day, mostly at the insistence of his parents. Otherwise he was too tired during the day or too wide awake at night.

As the Inventor grabbed Fifty-Eight and Eighty-Five into his grasp One found himself staring. Something about Two holding the Stitchpunk twins in his grasp, them pressing into his warmth, was incredibly tender and brought out those same thoughts in One that playing with the babies had to Two. Perhaps he was ready for another child, but at this second he had to address his current son. _"Before we bring another child into the world I need to spend a bit more time with my own. It has been too long since I have spent quality time with him as I am with the twins." _

With that he made up his mind and while Two left the room he stood to go find his son. He only paused to glance back at the toys scattered around the floor; the pressing drive to keep things clean insisting that he put the objects away. Instead, however, his mind changed as he picked up the Cat and the Bear toy and just stared at him. With a small smile he realized that this was the perfect time to make a change. This time, he was going to wake Twenty-One properly, and all he needed was Two to help.

_**FIN**_

* * *

**Mable: Again, I'm sorry about the delay. If you want to send in another request, or want me to write a sequel to this one, I'll be glad to as to make better for the wait and such. Still, I hope everyone enjoyed!**


End file.
